Vincentian Heritage Journal

Volume 35 | Issue 1 Article 5

Summer 7-25-2019

Newsnotes

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Recommended Citation(2019) "Newsnotes," Vincentian Heritage Journal: Vol. 35 : Iss. 1 , Article 5.Available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/vhj/vol35/iss1/5

NEWSIn Memoriam: Sister Sheila O’Friel, D.C., Former Long-Time Member of the Vincentian Studies InstituteThe Vincentian Studies Institute is saddened to learn of the recent passing of Sr. Sheila O’Friel, D.C. Sr. O’Friel was a longtime member of the Vincentian Studies Institute’s Editorial Board and contributed greatly to our publications agenda and programs over the years. We will miss her lively spirit, quick wit, and kind heart. From the Daughters of Charity: “A Mass of Christian Burial for Sister Sheila O’Friel, D.C., was celebrated 4 May 2019, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg, Md. Burial followed at Sacred Heart Cemetery in Emmitsburg. Sr. Sheila died 28 April 2019, at Villa St. Michael in Emmitsburg. She was 89 years of age and 65 years vocation as a Daughter of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. Born in Altoona, Pa., on 9 October 1929, Sr. Sheila (baptized Patricia Sheila) was a 1947 graduate of St. Paul’s Cathedral High School in Pittsburgh. Sr. Sheila entered the Community of the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul from St. Joseph Parish in Emmitsburg in December 1953. She earned her Bachelor of Science Degree in Home Economics Education from Margaret Morrison College of Carnegie Mellon University in 1951, and her Master’s Degree in Home Economics from Cornell University in 1952.

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NEWSNOTES

Following initial formation, Sr. Sheila served as a teacher at Holy Cross Academy in Lynchburg, Va. (1955 to 1959); St. Joseph College, Emmitsburg (1959 to 1964); and Elizabeth Seton High School, Bladensburg, Md. (1964 to 1969). Sr. Sheila then served as an Administrator at Labouré Center, South Boston, Mass. (1969 to 1976); Astor Home for Children, Rhinebeck, N.Y. (1976 to 1979; she also served as Local Community Superior during this time); and Kennedy Child Study Center, New York, N.Y. (1979 to 1981). In 1981, Sr. Sheila was missioned to Nazareth Child Care Center in South Boston where she served as an Assistant Administrator (1981 to 1982). Sr. Sheila then returned to Labouré Center where she served as Administrator (1982 to 1984); then was missioned to Maryvale in Rosemead, Ca., where she served as an Assistant Administrator (1984 to 1986). In 1986, Sr. Sheila returned to Kennedy Child Study where she served as Executive Director (1986 to 1992; she also served as Local Community Superior during this time). Sr. Sheila was then missioned to Carney Hospital in Boston, Mass., where she served as a Pastoral Care Associate (1992 to 1993), and as Vice President of Mission Services (1993 to 1997). In 1997, Sr. Sheila was missioned to the Archdiocese of New York, where she served at Catholic Charities (1997 to 2001). Beginning in 2001, Sr. Sheila served three times as a Parish Visitor at Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Parish in Bayside, N.Y. (2001 to 2015; she also served as Local Community Superior from 2006 to 2009). During the 14 years she served as Parish Visitor in Bayside, N.Y., Sr. Sheila was missioned twice to serve as Docent at the National Shrine of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Emmitsburg (2004 to 2005, and 2011). In 2015, Sr. Sheila joined the Ministry of Prayer at Villa St. Michael in Emmitsburg, where she served until the time of her death.”

New Online ExhibitionFrom 26 January to 2 April, 2017, the DePaul University Art Museum hosted The Many Faces of Vincent de Paul: Nineteenth-Century French Romanticism and the Sacred. The exhibition was guest-curated by Rev. Edward R. Udovic, C.M., Ph.D., as a companion to “Four Saints in Three Acts,” and featured nineteenth-century sculptures, holy cards, textiles, decorative arts and prints from the university’s collection. It explored how Romanticism impacted the iconographic representations of Saint Vincent de Paul (1581-1660), at the dawn of the modern era. Now, DePaul’s Division of Mission & Ministry is set to debut an online exhibition based around the collection displayed at the 2017 event. These nineteenth-century items clearly depict an iconic narrative shift to the Romantic. The vast majority of depictions of Vincent from his death in 1660 up to the time of the French Revolution portray him in a stance that identifies him as an Evangelizer, most often preaching while holding a crucifix

aloft. The classic example of this pose comes from Pietro Bracci’s (1700-1773) statue of the saint installed in Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome in 1754. By contrast, the iconic post-revolutionary image of Vincent shows him holding a foundling or surrounded by foundlings. This exhibit is dedicated to the post-revolutionary images of Vincent. For a sneak-peek of this new interactive, online exhibition, click here: Many Faces of Vincent de Paul Online Exhibit

2019 Conference on the History of Women Religious, St. Mary’s CollegeThe eleventh triennial conference was themed Commemoration, Preservation, Celebration, and took place June 23-26, 2019. As the centennials of women’s suffrage in North America, Europe, and beyond generate renewed interest in women’s history, the conference sought to explore how the history of women religious has been commemorated, preserved, and celebrated. How has that history been told, documented, and remembered? How have religious communities entrusted their history to others? How have anniversaries been moments of significance or transformation? How does the history of women religious intersect with turning points within women’s history more broadly? Of particular interest, three panel presentations touched on topics related to the Vincentian-Setonian history and legacy in the U.S.:

• Canonized American Sisters: How Congregations Commemorate, Preserve, and Celebrate Sainted Sisters’ Legacies in the Twenty-First Century featured panelist Regina Bechtle, S.C., Sisters of Charity of New York, on “St. Elizabeth Ann Seton.”

• The Role of the Sisters and Daughters of Charity in Settling the West included panelist Judith Metz, S.C., Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, discussing “Onward to New Mexico and Colorado.”

• Accessing Sisters’ Stories: Research and Teaching Applications for the History of Women Religious featured panelist Betty Ann McNeil, D.C., Scholar in Residence at DePaul University, on “‘Memory Matters’: The Journals of Cecilia Maria O’Conway and Rose Landry White.”

400th Anniversary Vincent de Paul Colloque Papers Now AvailableTo purchase a collection of the papers presented at La Charité de saint Vincent de Paul, un défi?, held September 26-28, 2017, at Châtillon-sur-Chalaronne, visit: La Charite de saint Vincent

Congratulations to our V.S.I. Colleague Alison Forrestal, Ph.D., upon her Election to the Royal Irish AcademyFrom an NUI Galway press release: “Dr. Alison Forrestal has been elected a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, the highest academic honor in Ireland, awarded after international peer-review to those with distinguished international research reputations. For information on Alison’s research and publications, see: NUI Galway faculty. For reviews of her most recent book, Vincent de Paul, the Lazarist Mission, and French Catholic Reform (Oxford University Press, 2017), see: Oxford University Press.”

PUBLICATIONS

NOTABLE BOOKSMatthieu Brejon de Lavergnée, Le temps des cornettes: Histoire des filles de la Charité, XIXe-XXe siècle, vol. 2 (Fayard, 2018), 700 pp. ISBN: 978-2213709796. Available in print or Kindle at: Amazon.com From the publisher: “Qui ne connaît, au moins par leur riche iconographie, les célèbres cornettes des Filles de la Charité? Fondée par saint Vincent de Paul et Louise de Marillac au xviie siècle, la petite communauté parisienne a rapidement gagné la France des villes et des villages pour devenir la principale congrégation de sœurs actives à la fin de l’Ancien Régime. «La rue pour cloître»: telle était la règle de vie originale de ces femmes, ni cloîtrées ni mariées mais célibataires vouées au service des pauvres. Après un premier

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tome consacré à la période moderne, Matthieu Brejon de Lavergnée aborde ici les deux siècles suivants, entre Révolution française et Deuxième Guerre mondiale. «Le temps des cornettes»: c’est celui d’un nouveau contrat social entre États et Églises pour répondre aux pauvretés de l’âge industriel comme à la forte demande d’éducation, de santé et de loisirs des sociétés urbanisées. Sensibles à la conjoncture politique, les Sœurs de Saint-Vincent-de-Paul connaissent aussi exil et martyre en France, au Mexique ou en Chine. L’échelle des cornettes est désormais globale, de l’Europe à ses espaces coloniaux comme aux nouveaux mondes américains. Missionnaires, elles exportent un culte marial si français depuis les apparitions de Catherine Labouré en 1830. Mais encore institutrices, infirmières, éducatrices ou syndicalistes, elles accompagnent les nouveaux fronts de la professionnalisation féminine au xxe siècle. Elles contribuent ainsi à redessiner les rapports de genre au sein de sociétés dures aux femmes. Féministes, les bonnes sœurs? La question mérite d’être posée. C’est tout l’intérêt de cet ouvrage, appuyé sur de riches archives, que d’évoquer avec rigueur le rôle capital joué par des générations de femmes qui ont lié horizon spirituel et travail social.”

Abbé J. Chevalier, Soeur Apolline Andriveau: Fille de la Charité et le Scapulaire de la Passion (Rassemblement à Son Image Editions, 2016), 318 pp. ISBN: 978-2364634640. Available at: Amazon.com From the jacket: “Apolline Andriveau naît le 7 mai 1810 à Saint Pourçain dans l’Allier. Après de brillantes études, elle quitte le monde à 23 ans et entre dans la Compagnie des Filles de la Charité à Troyes où tous les témoignages concordent pour louer sa piété, sa douceur, sa charité. Dès 1846, elle reçut des faveurs de Notre Seigneur au sujet de Sa Passion et elle fut appelée par la Providence à remplir une mission toute surnaturelle concernant la propagation du Scapulaire de la Passion de Jésus et de la Compassion de la Très sainte Vierge Marie. Ce livre révèle les sentiments de l’âme de S ur Apolline, embrasée de l’amour de Jésus crucifié. Elle est une gloire pour la Compagnie des Filles de la Charité et un exemple pour tous ceux qui veulent se joindre à elle pour ranimer la dévotion aux mystères douloureux de la Passion.”

Abbé Léonard de Corbiac, Correspondance Frédéric Ozanam et Amélie Soulacroix: Poèmes, prières et notes intimes (Desclée De Brouwer, 2018), 864 pp. ASIN: B07GCFGXX4. Available in print or Kindle: Amazon.com A new volume of Frédéric Ozanam’s correspondence. From the publisher: “Cette édition de la correspondance entre Amélie Soulacroix et Frédéric Ozanam réunit en un seul document les deux voix du couple, les lettres d’Amélie jusque-là inédites et celles de

Frédéric, déjà publiées. On connaît Frédéric Ozanam: le principal fondateur de la Société de Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, le serviteur de la Vérité, le défenseur de la question sociale, celui qui s’agenouillait devant les pauvres, «images sacrées de ce Dieu que nous ne voyons pas». Mais on redécouvre l’homme, l’amoureux, le père, l’universitaire, le poète, un homme plus simple, sans autres fards que ceux de son éloquence. Amélie nous était jusque-là presque inconnue: cette correspondance fait sortir de l’ombre une femme attachante par sa simplicité et son naturel, étonnante par ce qu’elle révèle à la fois d’elle-même mais aussi de Frédéric, véritable compagne qui a fait avec lui ce cheminement vers la sainteté. Par-delà ce regard intime qui éclaire une facette plus secrète d’un homme public, c’est un amour conjugal qui se découvre, sans pour autant être indiscret. Comme l’écrit Xavier Lacroix: «ce qu’expriment Frédéric et Amélie est tellement beau, Vrai surtout, juste, que cela en quelque sorte, par le haut, ne leur appartient plus. Le Vrai est universel. Il exprime une vérité de l’humain qui est en chacun de nous».”

Barbara B. Diefendorf, Planting the Cross: Catholic Reform and Renewal in Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-Century France (Oxford University Press, 2019), 227 pp. ISBN: 978-0190887025. Available in print or Kindle: Amazon.com From the publisher: “The first thing that Catholic religious orders did when they arrived in a town to establish a new community was to plant the cross—to erect a large wooden cross where the church was to stand. The cross was a contested symbol in the civil wars that reduced France to near anarchy in the sixteenth century. Protestants tore down crosses to mark their disdain for “popish” superstition; Catholics swore to erect a thousand new crosses for every one destroyed. Fighting words at the time, the vow to erect a thousand

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new crosses was expressed in the rapid multiplication of reformed religious congregations once peace arrived. In this book, Barbara B. Diefendorf examines the beginnings of the Catholic Reformation in France and shows how profoundly the movement was shaped by the experience of religious war. She analyzes convents and monasteries in three regions—Paris, Provence, and Languedoc—as they struggled to survive the wars and then to raise standards and instill a new piety in their members in their aftermath. What emerges are stories of nuns left homeless by the wars, of monks rebelling against both abbot and king, of ascetic friars reviving Catholic devotion in a Protestant-dominated South, and of a Dominican order battling demonic possession. Illuminating persistent debates about the purpose of monastic life, Planting the Cross underscores the diverse paths religious reform took within different local settings and offers new perspectives on the evolution of early modern French Catholicism.”

Thomas A. Donlan, The Reform of Zeal: François de Sales and Militant French Catholicism, St. Andrews Studies in French History and Culture, no. 9 (Centre for French History and Culture of the University of St. Andrews, 2018), 156 pp. This publication is open-source (free) and may be downloaded from the Centre’s web site at: St. Andrews Research Repository From the publisher: “The Reform of Zeal explores the origins, nature, and impact of François de Sales’s vision of Catholic douceur (gentleness) in the era of the French Wars of Religion. Since Natalie Zemon Davis’s pioneering work on the ‘rites of violence,’ scholarship has focused on the militant Catholic cultures of early modern France. Taking a fresh approach to de Sales’s work as a missionary, spiritual director, and founder of the Order of Visitation, this volume documents the evolution of de Sales’s spirituality and his championing of religious cultures of nonviolence within French Catholicism. The Reform of Zeal argues that Salesian douceur not only constituted one of the most effective critiques of French Catholic militancy in the period, but also a unique source of religious renewal in the seventeenth century, independent of Leaguer and early dévot fervour.”

Frédéric Jiméno, Karen Bowie, and Florence Bourillon (dir.), Du clos Saint-Lazare à la gare du Nord: Histoire d’un quartier de Paris (Coédition PU Rennes, 2018), 256 pp. ISBN: 978-2753566125. Available at: Amazon.com This new book focuses on the history of Saint-Lazare and its surrounding neighborhood. From the cover: “La léproserie Saint-Lazare devint en 1632 le berceau de la congrégation de la Mission que Saint Vincent de Paul avait fondée quelques années

auparavant. Cet espace subit d’importantes transformations au cours des XIXe et XXe siècles. C’est l’histoire de la maison Saint-Lazare et de son clos que ce livre tente d’éclaircir, non pas tant la prison pour femmes, que l’économie de la maison mère d’une des principales congrégations de la France de l’Ancien Régime et son adaptation successive à différents usages.”

Catherine O’Donnell, Elizabeth Seton: American Saint (Three Hills, 2018), 524 pp. ISBN: 978-1501705786. Available in print: Amazon.com or on Kindle: Amazon Kindle An important new biography of the revered American saint. From the publisher: “In 1975, two centuries after her birth, Pope Paul VI canonized Elizabeth Ann Seton, making her the first saint to be a native-born citizen of the United States in the Roman Catholic Church. Seton came of age in Manhattan as the city and her family struggled to rebuild themselves after the Revolution, explored both contemporary philosophy and Christianity, converted to Catholicism from her native Episcopalian faith, and built the St. Joseph’s Academy and Free School in Emmitsburg, Maryland. Hers was an exemplary early American life of struggle, ambition, questioning, and faith, and in this flowing biography, Catherine O’Donnell has given Seton her due. O’Donnell places Seton squarely in the context of the dynamic and risky years of the American and French Revolutions and their aftermath. Just as Seton’s dramatic life was studded with hardship, achievement, and grief so were the social, economic, political, and religious scenes of the Early American Republic in which she lived. O’Donnell provides the reader with a strong sense of this remarkable woman’s intelligence and compassion as she withstood her husband’s financial failures and untimely death, undertook a slow conversion to Catholicism, and struggled to reconcile her single-minded faith with her respect for others’ different choices. The fruit of her labors were the creation of a spirituality that embraced human connections as well as divine love and the American Sisters of Charity, part of an enduring global community with a specific apostolate for teaching. The trove of correspondence, journals, reflections, and community records that O’Donnell weaves together throughout Elizabeth Seton provides deep insight into her life and her world. Each source enriches our understanding of women’s friendships and choices, illuminates the relationships within the often-opaque world of early religious communities, and upends conventional wisdom about the ways Americans of different faiths competed and collaborated during the nation’s earliest years. Through her close and sympathetic reading of Seton’s letters and journals, O’Donnell reveals Seton the person and shows us how, with both pride and humility, she came to understand her own importance as Mother Seton in the years before her death in 1821.”

NOTABLE VIDEOS

Watch Rev. Craig B. Mousin, University Ombudsperson at DePaul University, deliver the lecture given at the 15 March 2018, Sister Mary Schmidt Lecture at Seton Hill University, titled: Debating Immigration: Law in the Midst of Exile. Recognizing the pressing needs of refugees at our nation’s borders, the 2018 Sister Mary Schmidt, S.C., lecture at Seton Hill University proposes to re-examine Catholic Social Thought and the biblical narrative in seeking new responses to refugees and immigrants. After reviewing United States immigration law in the light of the biblical narrative and Catholic Social Thought, the lecture argues against deportation and private detention as a state remedy to unauthorized immigration or as a deterrent to asylum applicants. Relying upon the framework of the Seton Hill University Centennial in 2018, the lecture recalls that deportation did not arise as a significant remedy for violations of immigration law until 1918. Through understanding the biblical narrative within its context of exile, the lecture urges people of faith to work towards eliminating deportation and private detention as our mission in the century ahead. View online: Debating Immigration: Law in the Midst of Exile

Watch the social justice women’s panel discussion featuring Sister Helen Prejean, Tamar Manasseh, Zaynab Shahar, and Joy Zavala, which took place 10 April 2019 at DePaul University, titled: Women’s Power: Fueled by Faith. Join us for an evening celebrating the struggles and power unique to women working for social change. Hear stories from Sr. Helen Prejean and a panel of extraordinary women from different faith perspectives who are on the front lines of resistance in Chicago. Learn about their rootedness in relationship and collaboration. Come be inspired by the energy and spirit of women’s power. View online: Women’s Power: Fueled by Faith

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